Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, October 12, 1993 TAG: 9310120061
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RALPH BERRIER JR. STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Long
It was a big game - as are most between the Radford Bobcats and the Blacksburg Indians. First place in the New River District was on the line.
Late-arriving fans had to park several blocks away and - accompanied by the siren sounds of horn blasts, cheerleader yells and public-address announcements - walk up the street to Radford's Bobcat Stadium where this classic high school rivalry has played out over the last quarter century.
On the field, the two teams battled to a standoff for most of the night. The game was tied until the final minute, when Blacksburg scored a touchdown and won a 13-7 decision. It was a thriller Blacksburg Coach Dave Crist called "another typical Radford-Blacksburg game."
Only it wasn't typical at all. It may have been the final game of a football rivalry that goes back at least seven decades.
"Everybody was disappointed," said Radford player Chuck Hubbard. "We wanted this game real bad . . . . It won't feel right not playing them anymore."
Next fall, Radford will drop from the Virginia High School League's Group AA classification to Group A, where it will compete against smaller schools. With an enrollment of just over 300, Radford is nearly 200 students below the Group AA minimum, but the Bobcats had stayed in Group AA because of the natural rivalries in the New River District.
Two weeks ago, the Radford City School Board relented under what it called "public pressure" and approved the move to Group A. In the same motion, the board caught many observers off-guard by voting that Radford, which could have continued to play larger schools in non-district games, could no longer schedule Group AA schools in football. Board members cited player safety as the overriding concern.
The motion ended Radford's longstanding series with traditional rivals Blacksburg and Christiansburg.
Crist, who has coached at Blacksburg for 18 years, said the board's decision caught everyone by surprise. "I understood their situation. I think maybe it was time for them to drop [to Group A], but this rivalry shouldn't end. I'd say that whether we won or lost [Friday night]."
Blacksburg player Tony Walker said, "It's confusing to me why we won't play again. They're a good ball club, even if they are jumping down to single-A."
Fans on both sides of Bobcat Stadium said the games did not have to end this way.
"You're losing a lot of tradition," said John Dobbins, a Radford resident who has a 10th-grade son playing for the Bobcats.
Dobbins knows tradition. In 1967, he scored the first touchdown in brand-new Bobcat Stadium in a game against Christiansburg.
"Both are good rivalries," he said. "I'll miss them. It's tough to take."
Blacksburg fan Dick Dunford said, "I think Radford will vote to change their minds if they've got any sense at all. It doesn't make any sense to me to stop playing. . . . [Radford has] too many ties with Blacksburg and Christiansburg."
There is still a faint hope among fans that the school board will rescind its motion.
With the move to Group A, Radford joined the Mountain Empire District, an 11-school league that will split into two separate divisions next year. Although the split has been approved, it is unclear if schools in one division will play schools in the other. Representatives from the Mountain Empire District, including Radford, meet today in Wytheville to discuss scheduling matters.
If the schools agree to play between the two divisions, Radford will no longer have room on its schedule to play Blacksburg or Christiansburg. If they don't, the Radford school board may have to reconsider its decision to drop Group AA schools.
Some fans are expecting the original motion to limit play to other Group A teams to stand.
"Supposedly, there's a gentleman's agreement to play the other schools," said Allen "Big Al" Hall, who for two decades has been a part of the Radford sideline crew that keeps the chains and down markers.
While he thinks it was time for Radford to move to Group A, Hall doesn't buy the argument that Radford's players face a safety risk when playing some Group AA schools.
"It's not like we're going to play those sized schools every week," Hall said. "Two games a year isn't bad."
Blacksburg and Christiansburg are not the first rivals to whom Radford has bid farewell. In the 15 years, consolidation of some schools and declining enrollments at others have decimated the New River District, which is down to just three teams - Blacksburg, Christiansburg and Carroll County.
When Pulaski and Dublin high schools merged to form Pulaski County High in the mid 1970s, Radford lost two of its best rivalries. Radford and Group AAA-size Pulaski County played against each other until the early '80s, when the series was discontinued.
Rufus "Buddy" Shull, who was an assistant coach at Radford for 18 years before becoming an assistant principal at his alma mater Christiansburg this fall, was a chief proponent of moving to Group A when he was at Radford. He doesn't, however, feel that the Bobcats should drop Blacksburg and Christiansburg from the schedule.
"If [the rivalries] end the way it looks like they're going to end - in other words, if it ends through legislation - that's not right," said Shull. "If they end naturally, the way the one with Pulaski [County] ended, then that's fine."
Shull has viewed the Radford-Christiansburg rivalry as a player, a coach, a parent, and an administrator. He still remembers the last time he played against Radford in the fall of 1965.
"I remember my senior year. We beat 'em 6-0," Shull said. "I've got the film at home. I scored the only touchdown. That's why I remembered it."
Radford beat Christiansburg 24-14 this year in what could have been the last game played between the two.
"Maybe we'll renew some old rivalries again," said Hall. "It's like when Pulaski [County] formed. I missed playing Dublin. Life goes on."
by CNB